HeadwaterCompany strategiesBuild yours

Coles

3D strategy, Long-term growth

Helping Australians eat and live better every day
Coles’ purpose

3D strategy

Coles sold $45.6 billion of groceries, liquor, and more in the year to June 2026, through 870 supermarkets and online, and its earnings before interest and tax rose 9.9%, excluding significant items. Its 3D strategy has three pillars: destination for food, drink and everyday essentials, accelerated by digital, and delivered consistently for the future, underpinned by its people under Win Together.

Destination for food, drink and everyday essentials

Crate 1 of 3
  1. ×1Everyday valueStrengthen value with a wider everyday value range, targeted weekly specials, seasonal campaigns, and personalised Flybuys offers.
  2. ×2Exclusive to ColesGrow the Exclusive to Coles ranges, with new partnerships including M&S, Grill’d, and Gami.
  3. ×3FreshImprove the quality, availability, and shelf life of fresh food through a multi-speed network that now reaches fresh produce.

25 August 2026Supermarket sales rose 5.1% excluding tobacco in FY26, and Coles gained market share.

25 August 2026Exclusive to Coles sales grew 6.1%, and Coles Finest 9.2%.

25 August 2026Flybuys active members rose to 10.3 million.

Coles’ supermarket online sales grew from $3.7 billion in FY24 to $5.6 billion in FY26

Online went from 9.4% of supermarket sales to 13.6%, and reached 15.7% in the first eight weeks of FY27. Every way of fulfilling orders grew by double digits in FY26, led by its automated Customer Fulfilment Centres and its expanded partnership with Uber Eats.,

FY24$3.7bn9.4% of salesFY25$4.5bn11.2% of salesFY26$5.6bn13.6% of sales

Each crate is $100 million of supermarket online sales, which include liquor sold through coles.com.au.,

Coles is moving its liquor stores next to its supermarkets

Liquor sales fell 3.3% in FY26, to $3.5 billion, and its EBIT by 47.8%, below Coles’ expectations. After a strategic review, Coles is joining liquor more closely to its supermarkets online and in Flybuys, putting more stores beside supermarkets, closing others, and simplifying how the business runs. Its convenience stores, 895 Liquorland and Liquorland Cellars shops, grew sales over the year.

FY26

16 opened next to a supermarket

26 closed

FY27, planned

About 20 opened next to a supermarket

About 30 closed

Each shopfront is one liquor store.

  1. Build the platform, then grow on it.

    Over three years Coles built two automated distribution centres and two automated online fulfilment centres; it says it has now moved on to the next phase of growth on that platform, with more stores, renewals, and technology. We recommend planning big infrastructure as a stage with an end, and saying what it is meant to make possible next.

  2. Give a lagging business its own plan.

    Coles’ liquor arm had a hard year: sales fell 3.3% and EBIT almost halved. Coles finished a strategic review and set out a programme for it: more stores next to supermarkets, about 30 closures in FY27, and a simpler operating model. We recommend giving a part of the business that falls behind its own named plan inside the strategy, rather than hoping the whole will carry it.

  3. Name the savings that pay for the investment.

    Simplify and Save to Invest delivered $311 million in FY26, which Coles says helps fund its investment in value, stores, and digital. We recommend that a plan to invest more names the savings that will pay for it, in the same document, so that the two are judged together.

Sources

  1. 1. Coles Group Limited (2025). 2025 Annual Report. Annual report, August 2025. colesgroup.com.au
  2. 2. Coles Group Limited (2026). 2026 Full Year Results Release. Results statement, 25 August 2026. announcements.asx.com.au

Headwater is not connected with Coles Group Limited. Coles, Flybuys, Coles 360, Liquorland, and Exclusive to Coles are trade marks of their owners. Updated 5 October 2026.

All company strategies